I don’t like this very much. What I mean is I often have to resize an image to get it right on whatever product it is. It was simple before, not to keep the aspect ration I have to hold the shift key. It seem like a wasted step. I never crop an image on zazzle (yeah, I know that might just be me).
And it’s wonky, if I transfer a products and need to resize it, it seems to have problems (cutting it off anyway) and I have to deleted it and re-add it.
I just noticed that today and I don’t like it either.
I just came here to complain all of this too.
I noticed it too. In the design area, under the settings, there is a “lock aspect ratio” under the “hide zoom tool” that you can check, so you can resize, without it cropping. I’m not sure if you have to set it, every time you work on a new design. I think if you check it once, it will stay that way in the design area.
good to know
Thank you!
I’m totally lost about what’s being discussed. When resizing, the aspect ratio is and always has been kept using the handles, and the crop tool still does nothing more than crop the image. Is there something else somewhere that can be done?
I hope this makes sense, the way I am describing it.
In the design area, there is a new tool “lock aspect ratio”, under the settings.
First image, unlocked aspect ratio. I can basically (reshape the image) crop it, while I am looking at it on the screen.
Second image, locked aspect ratio.
Will go try it now…
Aha! I thought it was something within the crop tool! It seems we can now resize (and shape) an image right on the design surface. I had no idea and am thankful it was brought up here on the forum.
I kinda like it. It makes it so much easier to crop an image.
I don’t mind having to hold the shift key, because I’m used to doing that in Photoshop anyway. But what makes it confusing is that NOT holding the shift key doesn’t distort the image, but crops it. I can see how it makes cropping quicker and easier, but I was hoping for a way to stretch the image without keeping the aspect ratio. For backgrounds, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit distorted.
Huh.
If you check “Lock Aspect Ratio” in Settings, things remain as they were: Using the drag-handles on an image RESIZES it while constraining the proportions; if you want to CROP it you use the Crop tool from the right-hand menu. They are two separate and distinct functions, you can do one or the other or both to an image in whatever order suits. Using the Shift key with this option checked makes no difference.
If you don’t check to “Lock Aspect Ratio”, you need to hold down the Shift key to resize the image as you normally would above. If you are not holding down the shift key while dragging the handles, the image is getting cropped and resized in an unpredictable combination I can’t make any sense of.
I’ve been playing with a square image. I used the old normal way (“Lock Aspect Ratio” checked) to first make a rectangular crop of just the main subject and then used the drag-handles to make it a smaller size. Then, using the same original image, tried to achieve the same result with “Lock Aspect Ratio” unchecked.
I was able to make the subject the same size, but then it had extra background image:
And I was able to make the image the same size, but then the subject was much smaller:
And of course all kinds of inbetween results but it was all very random, I felt like I had zero control over what was happening to the image when I used the drag handles. Here’s some random results of just using the drag handles. Note the one in the upper right where the scene itself was horizontally stretched. I have no idea how that happened. I tried to do it on purpose again after and couldn’t. Also note that it does not appear that way in the product preview image. Which is just one of numerous things wrong with the preview.
| Design Tool View | Product Preview |
I’m guessing this is all very glitchy still as it was just introduced but I can’t see using this for anything, the combination of cropping & resizing in the same uncontrollable action is too confusing for me.
I am really grateful they left us the option to continue the usual way (by checking “Lock Aspect Ratio”) or I would be out of my mind on this update.
The crop should be the Hold Shift. This is much harder to use. That means customers will be too frustrated.
I don’t like this, either. I didn’t immediately realize that it had changed, and ended up having to go back and redo some new designs because I’d inadvertendly cropped the edges of my images.
If you select “lock aspect ratio” in settings, it allows you to resize images without the weird accidental cropping. Unfortunately, this also locks other things, like elements. So if you want to adjust the size of a square or rectangle, you have to go in and de-select the “lock aspect ratio” option, then select it again to resize images.
The old way was far more user-friendly.
I’m so glad you mentioned the effect on elements. It would have driven me nuts trying to create an oval or a long rectangle, something I often do.
I’m so used to Photoshop where you have to hold Shift+Alt to maintain the aspect ratio while, otherwise, you’re in “distort mode.”
Cropping and resizing should not be in the same tool.
In most cases, I agree with you, but now and then, a person might have two images they’re trying to resize and crop so they can fit next to each other. If crop is separate, it requires going back and forth to the crop tool, looking to see if it’s correct, probably going back to the crop tool, and possibly several times more.
I use the cropping tool alot and it is a pain, having to go back and forth. It is so time consuming and sometimes it’s difficult to get the image to crop, exactly like I want it to, when I use the cropping tool.
I love have easy it is now, to crop an image. I just cropped a bunch of images, with the “lock aspect ratio” off and it took me no time, to crop and reshape the images, exactly like I wanted them to look. I did have to go to the cropping tool a couple of times, to move the box where I wanted it, but that was after I already cropped them, with the aspect ratio off.
I locked the aspect ratio, after I finished cropping all the images. That way if a customer goes into the design area, they will have no problem just moving the images around and the images will not crop.
l locked the aspect ratio, after I finished cropping all the images. That way if a customer goes into the design area, they will have no problem just moving the images around and the images will not crop
It doesn’t work that way. The “Lock Aspect Ratio” is a user-controller design tool setting, it’s not something designers can control for others. It remembers whatever setting you left it on but the default is that it is un -checked. I think this is completely backwards. If it continues to function the way it is for me right now, I imagine customers will be pulling their hair out trying to adjust an image. I think the default should definitely be the locked option for normal operations, with the option hidden in Settings for more advanced users to “free form edit” or some such wording.
This messes with elements, though. You have to manually un-check it every time you want to make, say, a rectangle, or any shape that isn’t perfectly symmetrical. So you can’t just keep it permanently locked.
